Love 101 with Ms Quinn & Dr Curtis
by missnikkinote
Summary: Ralph has got his first crush. Toby and Happy are there to help him...or to help themselves?


"So Ralph," Toby said once Walter, Paige, Sylvester and Cabe had left the garage, "What's his name?" At the confused look on Ralph's face he added, "Your mom told me about your conversation this morning."

Ralph groaned. "I don't want to talk about it."

But that didn't deter Toby. He didn't say anything, just sat down at the table where Happy and Ralph were playing chess, staring at him with a big grin on his face. Ralph kept his eyes trained on the board and tried to ignore Toby, but after a few minutes, not being able to take Toby's knowing stare anymore, Ralph sighed and said, "His name's Ahmed. Are you happy?"

"Who's Ahmed?" Happy asked.

"Nobody," Ralph said quickly. "And it's your turn," he added, trying to draw her attention back to their game.

"Oh, he is most certainly not nobody. In fact, he's a very special somebody who's got our Ralph here downright smitten," Toby said ruffling Ralph's hair.

Ralph groaned again and dropped his head down onto the table into his crossed arms. "This is why I didn't want her telling you guys," he said, his voice coming out muffled.

"Hey, I'm sorry bud, I'll be serious. You know, there's a lot I can teach you about the ways of the heart."

Happy rolled her eyes at this. "Toby, why don't you just leave him alone?"

"No! This is Ralph's first love and we need to help him."

Ralph quickly raised his head at this. "What? No. I don't love him. I just, I don't know, I guess I just think he's really nice and smart and I like being around him and he's not bad looking and I just want him to think those things about me too. But then when he's there my thoughts get all mixed up and it's hard for me to think of what to say." By the time Ralph had finished his head was back down on the table again.

"Boy do I know that feeling," Toby said with a sigh. "You see, Ralph–"

"When have you ever been at a loss for words?" Happy asked, cutting him off.

"You see, Ralph," Toby repeated, ignoring her comment. "There's this girl–"

"Is it Happy?"

Happy froze at the mention of her name.

"Save all questions for the end, please. Now, as I was saying, there's this girl–"

"Named Happy," Ralph said smiling.

"Can I please finish my sentence?"

"No," Happy said matter-of-factly. "Ralph, of course we'll help you if you want our help. But if you don't want to talk about it, that's okay too."

"Don't listen to her," Toby said, "You need to talk about this kind of stuff. It's not healthy to leave things bottled in."

"Fine." Sighing, Ralph explained, "Mainly I think there's a really good probability that he doesn't like me. So statistically speaking, wouldn't it be better to not say anything about how I feel to him?"

Toby thought about this. "You're right, he may not like you. That's always a possibility. But you can't let that stop you from trying because it's better to know for sure than to wonder about what you could have missed out on."

"I guess I see what you mean. But looking at the facts–"

At this Toby started shaking his head. "No, let me stop you right there. The thing about emotions is that they aren't rational. And because of that you need to be careful you don't get too caught up in the facts."

"Wrong," Happy cut in. "Facts are important; you always need to look at the facts. So let's hear them," Happy said, prompting Ralph to go on.

"The facts are, we have fun together when there are other people around and he talks to me the most so that could mean that he likes me too. But then when I try to invite him to do something with just me and him he always has some excuse. That must mean that he just thinks of me as a friend, right? But I know I like him more than just a friend."

"Well maybe," Happy paused, biting her lip as she thought. "But maybe he does like you. Maybe he's avoiding you, or making things difficult, or just generally putting up walls because he likes you a lot." She was looking right at Toby now and was clearly nervous, but still she kept talking. "And maybe that scares him a lot because he's never felt that way about anyone before. It's a hard thing admitting that you need someone and letting them in because it makes you vulnerable."

"I suppose that's possible," Ralph said slowly.

"And Ralph," Toby said, though he was looking right back at Happy, "If that's the case, it's important you let him know that you would never do anything to hurt him. He needs to know that you care about him more than anyone else in the world."

"Well, I don't know about that. I mean, he just moved here three weeks ago."

"And that you would do anything for him," Toby went on, not realizing Ralph had spoken.

"I guess I'm willing to do anything within reason," Ralph said, looking between Happy and Toby confused.

"And that you're willing to wait as long as he needs," Toby finished not taking his eyes off Happy.

"What am I supposed to be waiting for?"

"Tell him you're willing to try," Happy said softly.

"Willing to try what?" Ralph asked, not sure if he was even following the conversation anymore.

"Nothing," Happy said, finally looking away from Toby. "Don't worry, you'll be great." Then getting up from her seat she said to Toby, "Could you help me check the thing upstairs?"

"Sure," Toby said, even though she had already left, not waiting for his answer. "Be right back, buddy." When Toby got upstairs he found Happy pacing back and forth. "So where's this thing we're checking?" he asked in a teasing tone.

"Shut up," Happy said, not stopping her pacing.

Toby waited a few moments, then realizing she wasn't about to stop any time soon, he went and stood in her path. "I meant every word," he said softly.

"I know." After a moment of silence, neither of them looking away, she added, "I did too."

Toby smiled. And when he leaned down to kiss her, she came up to meet him halfway.

* * *

><p>AN - This was based off the synopsis for the next episode (1.16 Love Boat) so if you're reading it after Feb. 9, yeah, CBS probably did it better than me. Oh well. Thanks for reading!


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